Think & Wonder

2 April - 31 July 2005

The first exhibition of contemporary art at the V&A Museum of Childhood featured the work of over 20 artists who were inspired by the Museum's unique collection. Think & Wonder introduced children to the activities of professional artists working in the East End including creations from Lali Chetwynd, Brian Griffiths, Jeff McMillan and Cornelia Parker.

Dolls houses inspired a miniature tower block; a display of buckets and spades provoked a sculpture of seaside memories; the mechanical toy gallery prompted a tiny humanoid device and an unassuming tree was planted to divert the gaze of ancient porcelain dolls. These and other works explored all aspects of the Museum's collection including puppets, dolls, games, musical instruments and even Star Wars toys!

List of artists and works (clockwise from left)

Alexandre Da Cunha

Ying & Yang, 2005 (tennis balls push pins, bottle caps, 60 units)
From the simplest of materials Alexandre confers a panoply of expressions and moods on his race of fuzzy intruders that colonised every corner of the Museum's displays.

Lali Chetwynd

Animal Audience, 2005 (dough, acrylic paint, fake fur, paper, glue)
A fantastical crowd of neon-bright creatures arrayed on flimsy cardboard bleachers formed a new audience for the Museum's toy circus, itself endearingly home-made and fragile, but from a more
austere, pre-Cartoon Network era of gentler colours and whimsical ornamentation.

Cecilia Bonilla

Paper Dolls, 2005 (collage)
The ideal women of sophisticated, high-gloss, Vogue-ish advertorial appeared unfazed at finding themselves unexpectedly pregnant and rubbing shoulders with a very different class of paper doll.

Brian Griffiths

Mates, 2005 (rubber, air, rubber patches)
Brian spruced up his own, much-loved spacehopper - a long-time studio assistant used in the casting of parts of other works - and introduced it to its slightly-deflated, Museum-bound double. The new-comer was cleaner, bigger, full to bursting, and had a curiously indistinct expression. Inclined together, they formed an odd couple reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy or Morecambe & Wise, and reminded us that many of the Museum's objects are mass-produced and commonplace, but no less characterful for that.

Dan Coombs

Future House, 2005 (oil, acrylic, collage, found objects on canvas)

Kezia Cantwell-Wright

Housing Units, 2005 (MDF, perspex, matt emulsion, wood satin paint)
A model building based on the design of a block of post-war council flats, inspired by and placed among the Museum's dolls houses. The differently coloured and textured walls, floor and ceiling panels of the rooms are removable and interchangeable. Visitors could imagine placing one colour/surface next to another and create a link between play and art-making.

Tonico Lemos Auad

Extra Sparkle, 2005 (mixed media, dimensions variable)
Tonico gave extra sparkle to the sandpit by adding glitter to sand. A very subtle intervention heightening awareness of the strong natural sunlight shining on the sandpit, bringing the air itself alive and exciting ideas of buried treasure.

Tim Barnes

Rebel Base, 2005 (found plastic, audio recording)
This colourfully abject settlement was secreted in the Star Wars toys case, made of firework shrapnel, airgun pellets and other found plastic. The display included a recording of a 10-year-old boy reading the Star Wars premiere brochure, reprising a similar recording made by the 10-year-old artist for his own attic exhibition in the summer before the original film's release in 1977.